1070
Year 1070 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 1070th year of the Common Era and Anno Domini designations, the 70th year of the 2nd millennium, the 70th year of the 11th century, and the 1st year of the 1070s decade.
Events
- Spring - King Sweyn II of Denmark joins rebels in England led by Hereward the Wake and captures the Isle of Ely in The Fens of East Anglia. On June 1 Hereward sacks Peterborough Abbey with support from Sweyn's Danes.
- Harrying of the North: William the Conqueror quells rebellions in the north of his Kingdom of England following the invasion by Sweyn II. Widespread famine follows the devastation wrought.
- April 11 - Stigand is deposed as Archbishop of Canterbury in England by papal legates and imprisoned.
- April - Council of Winchester.
- May 1 - After 353 years of being exiled to Lugo due to the Muslim occupation of the city of Braga, the Diocese of Braga is restored by order of Ferdinand I of León under Archbishop Pedro of Braga thanks to the advancing Christian forces during the Reconquista.
- June - Denmark signs a treaty with England; Sweyn II and his forces leave the country.
- June 9 - Kulottunga I begins his reign as Chola emperor in South India.
- August 15 - The Pavian-born Benedictine Lanfranc is appointed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in England.
- An invasion of England by Malcolm III of Scotland is repelled.
- Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester, the first Marcher Lord, invades Wales, capturing parts of Gwynedd.
- A successful Byzantine counter-attack drives the Seljuq Turks across the Euphrates.
- Bergen is founded by King Olaf III of Norway; it will function as the main city and capital of Norway, until it is replaced by Oslo in 1314.
- Chinese Chancellor Wang Anshi starts the Xining Reforms.
- Jews from Rouen in Normandy settle in England at the invitation of King William I.
- The Temple of Literature, Hanoi, is established in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam.
- Uyghur poet Yusuf Khass Hajib of Balasagun, in the Kara-Khanid Khanate, completes the Kutadgu Bilig, and presents it to the prince of Kashgar.
- Song dynasty Chinese astronomer, engineer and statesman Su Song completes the compilation of the Ben Cao Tu Jing, a pharmaceutical treatise with related subjects of botany, zoology, mineralogy and metallurgy.
- The rebuilding of Canterbury Cathedral in England following a fire begins.
- The rebuilding of York Minster in England begins.
- Construction of Richmond Castle in North Yorkshire, England, by Alan Rufus begins.
- Approximate date - Halsten Stenkilsson is deposed as king of Sweden, with Håkan the Red becoming king in Götaland, and Anund Gårdske being chosen as king of Svealand.